Invest in Excellence Goals
Approved by IEA Board of Directors
November 4, 2006
Goal – Free Schools
A fundamental goal of the people of the state is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities.
The state shall provide for an efficient system of high quality public educational institutions and services. Education in public schools through the secondary level shall be free. There may be such other free education as the General Assembly provides by law.
The state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education. (Source: Illinois Constitution.)
Mission of the Illinois Education Association-NEA:
The Illinois Education Association-NEA’s mission is to effect excellence and equity in public education and to be THE advocacy organization for all public education employees.
We, the members and staff of the Illinois Education Association, believe it is imperative the State keep the promise made to the children of our state in the Illinois Constitution, that “a fundamental goal of the people of the state is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities” and, to this end, the state, acting on behalf of its citizens, “shall provide for an efficient system of high-quality public educational institutions and services.”
We are further committed to live out our mission to deliver excellence and equity to all of our students, and as advocates for our members, empower them to enjoy their interests, identify their needs and achieve their objectives in the Illinois public education system.
Today in Illinois, where a child’s parents reside is the key determinant as to the quality of education that child receives. The current system provides for a concentration of high quality educational institutions and services for children living in property-wealthy areas of the state, while simultaneously providing a vastly inferior educational market basket of goods and services to children living in property-poor areas of the state.
The flaws causing the current system to fail are pervasive. They include:
- The revenue stream (how the money for the system is raised)
- The distribution system (how the state assigns money to programs and to school districts)
- The allocation system (how local school districts and local schools spend the money in the system).
While there is much to debate about school funding, there is unanimous agreement that the current system breaks the promise to our children, contained in the Illinois Constitution.
The current system guarantees the fundamental goal of excellence and equity for all of our students will not be met in most districts. In addition, there are no appropriate measures in place to gather data needed to determine the progress of individual students.
Thus, the system not only fails our children, it ensures that, as employees of the system, the members and staff of the Illinois Education Association will fail in the responsibility we have to the young minds entrusted to our care. This is an embarrassment not only to us, but to all of the people of Illinois.
The issue
The current Illinois school funding system delivers widely different levels of resources to different school districts. The predictable result is that educational opportunities available to children in Illinois vary tremendously throughout the state. A child living in a property-poor district is denied the opportunity for a quality education comparable to a child living in a property-rich district.
Causes
Because the school funding system is overly reliant on local property taxes, per pupil spending range in Illinois ranges from $5,042 to $23,799 (in fiscal 2005).
A contributing factor is the ability of local taxpayers in Illinois to, within prescribed limits, set their local education tax rates, increasing the disparity among school districts.
Technical problems include:
- An inadequate foundation level
- A formula that treats elementary, high school and unit school districts differently
- A formula that fails to account for the full effect of local tax effort and the current “hold harmless” provision of our foundation level formula.
Consequences
The perception of the general public can become reality when it comes to public schools. Surveys show many view public schools as “broken,” because they see children in their local districts receiving an educational market basket of goods and services inferior to that which is delivered in neighboring districts.
Public education is the recipient of most tax dollars, but taxpayers do not necessarily feel they are getting a good “bang for their buck.”
Research shows Illinoisans believe public schools are not performing as well as they should, that the system of taxation used to support public education is regressive and “unfair” and that changes in the funding system need to be coupled with improvements in the quality and accountability of the public school system.
A review of this data suggests our work in school funding cannot be limited to seeking more money or a change in the funding formula. We must also work for increased quality and accountability in the system to allow all students to achieve at high levels.
Therefore, understanding that systemic change must occur if our public schools are to survive, the Illinois Education Association has adopted the following principles to guide us in assessing the validity of any proposed plan for improving and funding the public schools of our state.
Principles
1. Increase student achievement by improving the public education system.
- Teacher, administrator quality:
- Increase availability of induction and mentoring programs for teachers, principals and superintendents.
- Highly skilled principals.
- Improve education colleges.
- Additional technology training for school staff.
- Facilities, supplies, programs, and learning conditions:
- Statutorily reduced class sizes.
- Improve textbook quality.
- Improve school libraries.
- Improve technology in schools.
- Improve career and technical education.
- Provide a well-rounded curriculum that goes beyond the basics.
- Support for gifted and talented education.
- Support for Illinois students achieving at world-class levels in math, science and engineering.
- Quality extra-curricular activities.
- Schools in academic difficulty:
- Support for high-quality teachers to teach in high-needs schools.
- Mandatory after-school tutoring.
- School support services for students performing below grade level
- Assistance for schools on the warning and watch lists.
- Support for parental involvement.
- State takeover of failing schools and districts after sufficient support and assistance have been provided to no avail.
- More time for learning:
- Through the collective bargaining process, support time for teachers to learn together (embedded professional development, professional learning communities).
- Mandatory full-day kindergarten.
- Increasing the school calendar through collective bargaining.
- Increase funds for early childhood education programs.
- Summer school.
- Assessment and accountability:
- Evaluation of all administrators, with staff involvement.
- Collectively bargained peer-assistance and peer-review programs.
- Wide range of assessment programs.
- Recertification of administrators.
- Improve fairness, effectiveness and efficiency of tenure system.
- Explore through local collective bargaining processes, enhancedcompensation proposals for teachers and administrators; subject to affected local approval.
- Collaboratively developed assessment model(s) measuring student growth.
- Statewide systems to track stakeholder satisfaction: teacher/administrator perception of teaching/learning conditions, parent perceptions of school quality.
- School innovation:
- Grants for local school innovation.
- Identity schools/small schools.
- Lift cap on public charter schools statewide. Develop partnership schools.
- Leadership and support:
- Increase ISBE technical assistance to local schools.
- State leadership team.
- Assess performances of Regional Offices of Education and, if possible, develop effective system of support.
2. Provide adequate resources to all preK-12 public schools.
- Additional revenue.
- Identify a predictable, reliable revenue source, while reducing the reliance on local property taxes.
- Progressive tax system.
- Establish a minimum local property tax relief.
- Close tax loopholes for businesses.
- Allow districts to tax at the voter-approved rate.
- Full funding of mandated categoricals (varies currently from 88 percent to 100 percent).
- Free lunch/breakfast.
- Orphanage tuition.
- Special education programs.
- Transportation.
- Increase special education personnel reimbursement rate (currently $8,000 per teacher and $2,800 per non-certificated).
- Increase the foundation level in the GSA formula.
- FY 06 -- $5,164.
- FY 07 estimated -- $5,334.
- EFAB recommended rate -- $6,405 for FY 06.
- 51 percent of the cost funded by the state.
- 51 percent of new state revenue dedicated to education.
- Additional money to ADA block grant for school improvement.
- Incentive for unit districts.
- School budgets.
- Mandated accrual method of accounting.
- September to August fiscal year.
- Three funds 1 - operating, required expenditure fund and capital fund.
- School construction program.
- School district reorganization and administrative consolidation.
- Increase local revenue.
- Special education rate outside of tax cap.
- IMRF rate outside of tax cap.
- Allow districts to tax at voter-approved rates.
- Restrict or eliminate TIF districts as far as they impact schools.
- Change the measure of inflation used to set tax caps from the Consumer Price Index to the Economic Fiscal Indicator.
3. Provide adequate resources to all public higher education institutions in ways that will keep tuition affordable for all students
- Restore the 1/3 versus 2/3 historic relationship with PreK-12.
- Capital program for universities and community colleges.
- Raise community college tax levies without referendum to those for newly organized districts.
- Additional revenue.
- Progressive tax system.
- Shift toward non-property tax sources.
- Establish a minimum local property tax relief.
- Close tax loopholes for businesses.
- Allow community college districts to tax at the voter-approved rate.
4. Provide a long-term solution for pension system stability and funding.
- Sale of pension obligation bonds to correct past underfunding.
- Dedicated revenue stream to correct past underfunding.
- Local property tax for community college/SURS and TRS funding.
5. Do no harm to any public education entity, that is, no public education entity receives less money than it is currently receiving.